PortaPottyBossPro Blog — Routes & Dispatch

Choosing Portable Toilet Route Software: What to Check Before You Switch

If you have read this far, you have seen what goes into planning and running portable toilet routes. The previous article, Handing a Porta Potty Route to a New or Fill-In Driver, covered fill-in drivers. This last one pulls it together into a checklist for choosing software to run your routes, whether you are moving off a whiteboard or replacing generic field-service software that never quite fit.

Does It Show What Is Due on a Map?

The starting point of every route is the work that still needs a truck. Look for a map of every open delivery, service, pump-out and pickup, with status colors so you can see what is due and what is overdue. A list sorted by date is not enough; you need to see where the work is.

Ask whether recurring service comes due on its own based on the days between visits, or whether someone has to re-enter it every week. The Waiting List Map: Seeing Every Porta Potty Stop That Still Needs a Truck describes what that looks like.

Does It Understand Portable Toilets?

Generic field-service software is built for a technician going to an address. Portable toilet work is about units: Standard, Deluxe Flushing, ADA Accessible, High-Rise / Crane, Hand Wash Stations and Restroom Trailers, in quantities, with unit numbers and placement on large sites. Check that every stop can carry the unit type, quantity, unit numbers and placement notes, and that the driver sees them.

Check rental tracking too: delivered and picked-up dates, days included, a per-day rate after, and extra days added to the invoice automatically.

Can You Set Route Order Your Way?

Look for auto-routing from your yard, with a choice of direction like Closest First and Furthest First, and the ability to drag stops into the order you want. A system that forces its own order with no override will fight your dispatcher every day.

Does It Handle Multiple Trucks?

Check that you can assign stops to trucks and days, filter the board by truck, and see totals of stops and dollars for each day. Assigning employees to trucks matters too, so each driver sees only their own route.

What Does the Driver Get?

The driver app makes or breaks the switch. Look for:

• Works on the phones your drivers already have, iPhone and Android.
• Simple login, like a company login and a personal PIN.
• Jobs in route order with one-tap navigation.
• Units and placement on each card.
• Start, Skip and Complete, plus photos and notes.
• Automatic on-the-way and arrived texts to the customer.

Have your least tech-friendly driver try it. If they can run a route on it, everyone can. Ask them to run a real route for a day, not just tap through a demo, and listen to what they say afterward.

What Does the Customer See?

Customers notice routing through texts and through being able to check on the truck. Look for customer-chosen alerts like night before, when they're next and when the tech arrives, and a customer view of the route like You're stop 12 of 20. A customer app where they can also request service, update a card and pay invoices is a bonus that cuts office work.

Does the Office See the Crews?

Live crew GPS on the office map makes same-day dispatch and customer calls far easier. Live Crew GPS on the Office Map: Dispatching Porta Potty Trucks You Can See covers how dispatchers use it.

Can the Office Change the Day Easily?

No route survives the day as planned. Check how hard it is to add a same-day stop, move a stop to another truck, push a rained-out route to tomorrow, and handle a skipped stop. Each change should take a minute on the board and reach the driver's phone without a call. If changes are painful in a demo, they will be worse on a busy Tuesday in July.

Does It Carry Through to Billing?

A completed stop should become an invoice without retyping. Check for card-on-file charges on completion, online payment, and monthly account billing for contractors with many sites.

How Is It Priced?

Watch for per-user pricing, which punishes you for adding drivers. PortaPottyBossPro is never billed per user. Plans are Start at 59 dollars a month, Pro at 89 and Crew at 199, with a monthly text allowance, and every plan starts with a 14-day free trial with no credit card.

Test It With Your Own Routes

The best test is a real week. Import your customers, set up a few sites with their units and service frequency, build tomorrow's route on the map and run it with one driver. You will know within a week whether it fits. For the full overview of routing and dispatch, see PortaPottyBossPro portable toilet route software.